I'll be a monkey's
by IceFlake 77
Summary: Heights, weights, hair styles, philosophies. Those are things that always change. Friendship? Perhaps. Just be glad that there are some things that never change. Older!Luke & Older!Manny fic. Minor references to 1x05 and 2x08.


**I haven't written anything in a while, and I'm glad that Modern Family got me back into my vibe! The last thing that was able to do that so effectively was Hetalia, and I kinda stopped following that quite some time ago. XD;;**

**Title: **I'll be a monkey's-**  
Characters: **Older!Luke & Older!Manny**  
Summary: **Heights, weights, hair styles, philosophies. Those are things that always change. Friendship? Perhaps. Just be glad that there are some things that _never _change.**  
Rating: **G**  
WARNINGS: **Not very spoilery. Just references to 1x05 ("Coal Digger") and 2x08 ("Manny Get Your Gun"). :)**  
Disclaimer: **(been long since I had to write one of these) MF and Benjamin Button (you'll see why) don't belong to me~ XD

**Enjoy~**

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I'll be a monkey's-_  
by IceFlake77_

"Say it."

"No."

"Come on, say it."

"Manny, no-"

"Saaaay it..."

The sing-song tone of voice was what made him snap. "God, when did you get so annoying?" He turned around and ran the risk of Manny bumping into him, which _almost _did happen.

"I'm making up for all the years that you spent annoying _me," _the other answered, smirking, as he leaned against the lockers next to him. "And frankly, you did it quite a lot."

Luke rolled his eyes and retorted, "Sorry, but not all of us were born 16."

Manny pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "I still regret ever telling you about that."

The shorter of the two grinned, making him look much like he did a few years ago, when he had just met the Latin boy, who was now (just like him) hovering somewhere between boyhood and manhood, the awkward stage known as 'puberty'. (In Manny's case, though, it seemed like he had skipped boyhood and puberty altogether and went straight ahead to manhood.)

"So you didn't have a proper childhood and now you're taking your bitterness out on me by _aging backwards?" _Luke laughed at the thought and even after all the years, his snort-laugh, too, had not changed a bit.

"Yeah, because I'm secretly Benjamin Button," Manny answered, riding on the joke that he would've considered as a bit immature if he were still 10.

"Dude, that movie is _so old." _Luke hiked his backpack higher on the lone shoulder that it was hanging from as he turned around to continue making his way down the hallway, like he had been doing earlier.

Manny followed close behind, straightening out his button-down shirt (it often got him mistaken as a teacher, but he didn't mind) and adjusting the strap of his leather messenger bag. "A thought just occurred to me."

"Oh, here we go now..." Manny's random ideas, Luke remembered, always had the tendency to be as long as novels, and just as detailed, filled with piles and piles of useless information and the remains of brain cells that could've been used to process more useful things. The thought made him groan.

"Working with the context that I'm like Benjamin Button-"

"Which you aren't."

"-that would mean that I couldn't have been born 16, and-"

"I doubt it's even possible in the first place..."

"-that would also mean that I was born as an old man-"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Luke glanced over his shoulder to make sure that his friend's head was still screwed on right. "You're overthinking again."

Manny paused in his steps as Luke continued to walk, his eyes still on the darker boy. "Luke, will you let me finish?" Upon the other's rather sheepish nod, Manny took long strides in order to catch up before carrying on:

"So like I was saying, if I were like Benjamin Button, then I'd have to be born as an old guy, and 16 is not old. Let's say I was born...100."

"That's-"

"AND," he drowned out Luke's voice. "Then I'd be aging backwards. So technically, I'd be 85...Whoa, that makes me older than Jay! Alright, let's say I was born at the age of 55. Aging backwards, I'd be 40 now, so-"

"What's your point, Manny?" Luke interrupted, already a bit exhausted from the speed of their conversation, in the course of which, they had stopped walking without realizing it.

Manny stepped closer, an ear-to-ear grin present on his face. "Say it."

Luke rolled his eyes, a habit his mom said he had somehow inherited from his Uncle Mitchell. "Manny, it wasn't funny then, and it's not funny now. I don't want to get into trouble a second time over the same thing."

He swung an arm and draped it over Luke's rather thin shoulders, temporarily throwing the two of them off-balance, but was able to save them both from disgrace just in the nick of time. "But it shouldn't be weird because I'm _technically _40 years old now! That's the perfect age-"

"Manny..." Luke tried (and failed) to sound threatening.

"-to call me-"

"Manny!"

"'UNCLE'!"

Later that day, the two of them sat in tense silence across their principal, looking at opposite directions with their arms crossed over their chests, wearing bruises and disheveled clothes, as they waited for their parents to arrive.

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